John ellwood lee



J. E. LEE.

(No Model.)

SPEGULUM.

No. 449,941. Patented Apr. '7, 1891.

W ATTORA/EVJ UNITED STATES PATENT F JOHN ELLIV OOD LEE, OF OONSl-IOHOCKEN, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO THE J. ELLIVOOD LEE COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

SPECULUM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Iatent No. 449,941, dated April '7, 1891.

Application filed January 31,1891. Serial No. 379,808. No model.) i

, To whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN ELLwooD LEE, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Conshohocken, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, have invented an Improved Surgical Speculum, of which the following is a specification.

My invention consists of certain improve ments in the construction of that form of speculum usually known as the Graves speculum, in which one jaw of the speculum carries an adjustable forked piece, to which the other jaw is pivoted.

The main object of my invention is to so construct a speculum of this character as to lessen the number of separate parts with the view not only of simplifying and economizing the manufacture, but also of facilitating the surgical cleansing of the instrument after each operation.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side view, partly in section, of a Graves speculum constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is an end view. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the upper jaw and the detachable fork, showing the manner of uniting the two. Fig. at is a View of the fork detached, and Fig. 5 is a view of the adjustingscrew detached.

The lower jaw J of the speculum has the usual extension j at right angles to it to receive the stem f of the adjustable forked piece F, to besecured after adjustment by means of the usual thumb-screw S. The up- .per ends of the fork at the inner sides pins 19.

I form in the upper jaw of the speculum suitable openings 0 for the reception of these pins, and I make the forked arms and the rear end of the upper jaw of the speculum with just sufficient spring or elasticity to enable the pivot-pins to be sprung into or out of the openings in the jaw. To facilitate this 1 operation I form on the outer face of the upper jaw adjacent to and leading into one of the pivot-openings, as shown in Fig. 3, a guiding-groove o with an inclined bottom, so that by first placing one of the pins of the forked piece into the other opening 0 in the jaw the pin 19 on the arm of the fork adjacent to the groove 0' may be readily drawn into this groove 0' and then sprung into the opening 0, in which the groove terminates, as shown in Fig. 3. The upper jaw is, as usual, provided with the finger-piece or adjusting-arm 7', while a screw L, carried by the corresponding arm of the fork, passes through a slot la in this finger-piece. An adjusting-nut Z on the screw is adapted to bear on the fingerpiece, as heretofore.

In order to facilitate the thorough surgical cleansing of the instrument and to enable the several above -described parts to be readily put together, I construct this adjusting-screw L with a conical or other shouldered head Z, adapted to a corresponding opening in the arm of the fork through which it passes, as shown in Fig. 2, so that the ad justing-screw can be detached from the fork F and finger-piece 7c, and also from its adjusting-nut Z.

I am aware that specula have heretofore been constructed with pivot-pins on one jaw adapted to be sprung into corresponding openings on the other jaw, the well-known Baxterspeculum being an illustration of such a construction. This, therefore, I do notclaim but I claim as my invention- 1. The combination of the upper jaw of a speculum with the lower jaw and the detachable forked piece, the latter having at its upper end pins permanently fixed thereto or forming part thereof and adapted to be sprung into corresponding openings in the upperjaw for the pivoting of the latter, all substan tially as described.

2. The combination of the upper jaw of a speculum having pivot-openings and adjacent to one of such openings an inclined groove with lower jaw, and the adjustable In testimony whereof I have signed my forked piece having pivot-pins permanently name to this specification in the presence of affixed to or formed in one with the arms of two subscribing witnesses. 1

the forked piece and adapted to be sprung JOHN ELLXVOOD LEE. 5 into the openings in the upper jaw through Witnesses:

the aid of the inclined groove, substantially H. F. REARDON,

in the manner hereinbefore described. HUBERT' Howsom. 

